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By Lesley Fowler Lebkowicz andTamara Ditrich with Primoz Pecenko

SUTTA-NIPATASUTTA-NIPATA

A translation of Book IV of the Sutta-nipata

By Lesley Fowler Lebkowicz and Tamara Ditrich with Primoz Pecenko

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ContentsTranslator’s Note .................................................................................................. iv

A Note on the Pali Language .......................................................................... iv

On Desire ................................................................................................... 1

The Cave .................................................................................................... 2

How Opinion & Thought Contaminate the Mind ............ 4

Purity of Heart .................................................................................... 6

The Ultimate ........................................................................................... 9

Old Age ..................................................................................................... 11

Tissa Metteyya ..................................................................................... 14

Pasura, the Debater ......................................................................... 16

Magandiya Questions the Buddha .......................................... 19

Before the Body’s Dissolution .................................................. 23

Quarrels and Disputes ................................................................... 27

The First Discourse on Disputes .............................................. 32

The Second Discourse on Disputes ......................................... 37

The Fast Way to Freedom ............................................................. 43

On Violence ........................................................................................... 48

Sariputta Questions the Buddha ............................................. 53

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Translator’s Note

The Sutta-nipata is one of the earliest texts of the Pali cannon, coming from the same period as the Dhammapada, before the monastic tradi-tion was strong. It was created by people as they practised and refers to “the wise one”, rather than to monks or nuns. In the present transla-tion, “the wise one” is referred to as female and as male on a roughly equal number of occasions.

The translators, Tamara Ditrich (with assistance from Primoz Pecenko) and Lesley Fowler Lebkowicz are all experienced meditators who brought their understanding of meditation to bear on the text.

Tamara Ditrichand Primoz Pecenko are Pali scholars who translat-ed the Pali into literal English; Lesley Fowler Lebkowicz has published poetry and prose and devised the present form.

This translation aims to combine textual precision and a colloquial style. Natural Australian speech rhythms and some idiomatic expres-sions (skite, for example, is an Australian colloquial word for brag or boast) were chosen to reflect both the popular origins of the text and the audience to whom this translation is directed.

Lesley Fowler Lebkowicz

A Note on the Pali Language

The language of the Theravada (Theravaada) Buddhist Canon is called Pali (Paali). The earliest recorded Buddhist scriptures, preserved by the Theravada Buddhist tradition, are often called the Pali Canon. Origin-ally the word Pali seems to have been an abbreviation for the com-pounded word pali-bhasa (paali-bhaasaa), meaning “the language (bhasa) of the texts (pali)”. In this compound the word Pali does not refer to a language but to canonical Buddhist texts. The first western Pali scholars misinterpreted the meaning of the word Pali and translated it as the lan-guage of the early Buddhist Canon. In the traditional Theravada com-mentarial literature it is stated that the language of the scriptures, which was also spoken by the Buddha, was Magadhi (Maagadhii), a language

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spoken in the north-east India of that time (one of the so-called Prakrit languages), related to Sanskrit and, historically, of Indo-European ori-gin. However, modern scholars believe that the language of the Thera-vada Buddhist Canon is not Magadhi but a dialect, closely related to Magadhi, which was used in Northern India for the oral transmission of Buddhist teaching after the death of the Buddha, especially when Buddhism started to spread widely throughout India and beyond.

For several centuries after the death of the Buddha the Canon was transmitted orally, probably in several dialects, throughout the Indian subcontinent. According to the traditional sources, the entire Canon was for the first time written down in the first century BCE in Sri Lanka. Although the entire Canon has been written down several times since its first recordings the oral tradition has continued till the present day. There is no single script developed for the language of the Pali Bud-dhist Canon, every country used for writing Pali the script which was used for its native languages. The language which is today, due to the misunderstanding, called Pali was not used only for canonical texts but also for commentarial literature and for communication among learned Buddhist scholars in Theravada countries.

The texts of the Pali Canon are divided into three collections, tradi-tionally called the “three baskets” (Tipitaka): the monastic rules (Vinaya), the Buddha’s discourses (Suttas) and the higher teachings (Abhidhamma). The Buddhist tradition believes that all the three groups represent “the word of the Buddha”; however, modern scholarship shows that many texts belonging to the Canon are of later origin. The Sutta-nipata (Sutta-nipaata) is one of the oldest canonical texts, belonging to the Suttapitaka, the collection of Buddha’s discourses.

Tamara Ditrich

In Pali the vowels ‘a’, ‘i’ and ‘u’ can be short or long. The long vowels are usually transliterated as ‘aa’, ‘ii’ and ‘uu’, or marked by a diacritic mark

“-” placed above the vowel letter; e.g. in the word Theravada the second vowel ‘a’ is pronounced long: Theravaada; in the word Pali the vowel ‘a’ is pronounced long: Paali.

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On Desire

You’re overjoyed if you get what you want.

If you don’t, you writhe, a hunter pierced by your own arrow, born of desire, engendering desire, desire driven.

No matter what you long for: a house, land, livestock, gold, serfs, servants, slaves, men, women, family, (innocent things of themselves) the longing overwhelms you till troubles bear down and suffering follows like water rushing into a leaky boat.

But if you’re mindful you evade desire as easily as side- stepping a snake. You’re free of the world’s sticky traps.

Be mindful. Abandon desire. Bale out the boat & reach the further shore.

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The Cave

Worldly desire’s so hard to give up. Look at you: stuck in a cave surrounded by every kind of form sunk in murkiness far from freedom.

Your longings tie you up in knots. Sense pleasures snare you. You yearn now as you did in the past and will in the future. No one else can release you.

You’re greedy, intent on desire, infatuated by desire, mean. You’re on the wrong track heading for a bad time. You wail, “What’ll happen to me when I die?”

I see you trembling with desire for a different state of mind, a sad wretch muttering in the mouth of death.

Look! You’re self obsessed, flapping about like a fish in a drying creek.

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You see this so be aware, be selfless, don’t cling to any state of mind.

Be here in this moment. Keep clear of what you know’s no good. Life’s much too short.

You’ve found a middle way, completely understood how sense impressions link us to the world, given up greed and act now only with a blameless heart. In short you’re wise, unsullied by things you see and hear, free of opinion, tradition or belief.

You’ve seen there’s no significance in forms. You’re free, untrammelled by possessions, impeccably mindful, the barb of existence extracted, longing neither for this world nor the next.

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How Opinion & Thought Contaminate the Mind

Some people debate maliciously. Others honestly. But the wise are silent, stand back from arguments, keep the mind open.

How can you ever free the mind of its opinions if you let desire lead you and do exactly as you like? You’re bound by your own habits, can speak only what you know.

If you credit anything based on rational thought or fantasy you’re not clear. They’re part of the conditioned world. The benefit they give is shaky, built on sand.

To overcome habitual points of view is hard. You investigate them all, abandon some and choose a special one.

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You argue to defend a point of view but if you’re free of set beliefs - no need! You’ve nothing to deny or to assert, quite purified right now of worldly views.

The wise have no such view about what is or what is not. They know both thought and pride are meaningless. Nothing defines them.

The wise see your failings if you blow your own trumpet, skite about your virtue and awareness

but they acknowledge your virtue if you’re calm, don’t brag, are selfless and unworldly.

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Purity of Heart

Someone who wants purity and thinks to find it by gazing at the pure might say,

“I see something pure excellent free of decay. Seeing it purifies me.”

If seeing or some intellectual process could rid you of pain the purifying agent would be outside you and you’d be left still eager to grasp. This view describes a grasping person not any path to purity.

Anyone who’s free denies there’s liberation by another or by what she sees and hears, by rules of morality, rites and rituals or through what she thinks. Neither good nor evil affect her. She’s given up the grasping self.

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Her action now is neither good nor bad.

If you abandon one thing just to cling to another you’ll never free yourself. You’re like a monkey letting go of one branch, grasping another.

You immerse yourself in religious practices, favour certain ways of seeing things and go up and down. The wise one sees the way things are through insight, no longer swings from high to low.

You need not defend yourself against anything you see, hear, touch, taste, smell or think Who can define you? You live so openly.

You take no theoretical position, claiming it as the ultimate. All things are equal.

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You’ve disentangled the knot that used to bind you. No longing now for anything in the world.

You’re free. You’ve understood the way things are. There’s nothing you would grasp. You’ve gone beyond all limitations, have no taste for desire or its absence. There’s nothing left to do.

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The Ultimate

If you have a set view of the best spiritual path in the world and go round saying,

“This is the best and everything else is inferior,” you’re stuck in discrimination.

If you see some gain for yourself through the senses or the ideas you use in rites and rituals and grasp hold of it right there and then you’ll jeer at every other way.

The wise point out that you’re bound if you see your way as best and the rest as inferior. Anyone who wants to understand the way things are doesn’t rely on his senses or ideas or ritual practices.

Use neither knowledge nor rite and ceremony to invent some view. Don’t consider yourself as anybody’s equal or

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their better or inferior. No comparison at all.

You’ve abandoned the self! Are free of grasping! Depend not even on knowledge and follow no learned group. You hold no view at all!

You yearn for no extreme: being or non-being in this world or the next. You’ve investigated everything you’ve clung to and need not cling to anything again.

You formulate no theories about the experience of your senses. No one can define you, wise one, free of ideas and opinions.

The wise have no set views, no opinions or preferences, form no theories about truth, can’t be led by ceremonial. They have truly gone beyond, need not come back from the free and further shore.

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Old Age

Life’s so short you’ll die before you turn a hundred. (Even if you don’t old age’ll get you in the end).

When what you cherish fades away, you grieve but nothing’s permanent. You know owning things is meaningless so don’t get stuck in your comfortable house.

Everything you think is yours stays here when you die. Be wise: devote yourself to truth forget about owning things.

You dream and meet someone and when you wake they’ve gone. When someone you love dies it’s just the same:

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I see you hear you call your name. You die and now there’s just the name.

Greedy people get stuck with sorrow, lamentation, meanness. The wise forget about owning things, wander about in peace.

If you want to understand the way things are don’t put yourself forward. Live quietly. That’s all you need.

The wise depend on nothing, have no likes or dislikes. Lamentation and meanness run off them like water from a lotus leaf.

Just as a drop of water slides off a red lotus flower,

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so a wise person is unblemished by anything she sees, hears or thinks.

When you’re free you don’t cling to sights, sounds or thoughts. You neither like nor dislike anything, you want no other way.

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Tissa Metteyya

Tissa Metteyya asked, “What, sir, is wrong with sex? If you explain we’ll train ourselves to give it up.”

“Metteyya,” said the Buddha. “If you’re intent on sex, you forget about the teaching. You begin to make mistakes. That’s what’s wrong.

“If you’ve lived alone and then take up sex you sink down like a carriage that can’t hold the road.

“You’re sure to lose what good name you had. Aim to give it up.

“You hear reproaches, are troubled. Your thoughts overwhelm you. You brood, wretched.

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Spurred on by what they say you hurt yourself. This is desire driving you from the truth!

“We said you were wise living quietly and then you turned to sex. You’re in trouble! A fool!

“The wise know this danger and always keep firmly to their quiet life and avoid sex.

“Train yourself to solitude, that’s the best you can do, the most noble thing. But don’t think of yourself as the best now you’re close to freedom.”

Worldly people bound by desire envy the wise wandering free, indifferent to pleasure, gone beyond to the further shore.

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Pasura, the Debater

Different people settle for different versions of the truth. You say your way’s best. You claim: this is the way to purity and only this.

You all gather to discuss the truth, each one believing the other’s got it wrong. You base your claims on what others tell you. You quarrel, wanting praise, saying that you know best.

You’re arguing at a gathering, hoping for praise, fearing the failure which leaves you downcast, furious at their jibes. How can you get them?

When your opponents find flaws in your argument and refute it, you lament and grieve wailing, “They’ve defeated me!”

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Ascetics quarrel like this. They have ups and downs as they win and lose. You see what they’re like, give up debate. Ascetics only do it for praise.

If you make your point and win, the group praises your ideas. You laugh, swell up with pride.

That pride will bring you down but you’re still arrogant, swollen with conceit. Don’t you see there’s no point to dispute? The wise tell us that quarrelling and purity don’t mix.

Like a hero fed at the king’s table who roars at his rival,

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“Run away!” you’ve no reason to fight.

When people argue, defending a set view and saying,

“This is the only way!” just tell them you don’t want to argue.

There are people who live free from argument, who don’t set one view against another who have nothing more to attain. They have no self you can argue with, Pasura.

Thinking about different ideas just confused you. Now you’ve met a purified being you can’t escape the truth.

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Magandiya Questions the Buddha

The Buddha said, “I’ve watched desire, discontent and passion and felt no need for sex. What is this thing? A bag of piss and shit! I wouldn’t even touch it with my foot.”

Magandiya replied, “You don’t want this woman whom kings have sighed for? This perfect jewel! What do you believe in? What virtuous kind of life? What notions of a life to come?”

“Magandiya,” the Buddha said. “I investigated different theories but didn’t claim one for myself. I didn’t ever say, this one is it. But I searched and found true inner peace.”

Magandiya asked, “How do you investigate without settling for one point of view? How do you wise ones teach this inner peace?”

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“Not by belief, oral transmission or knowledge, Magandiya,” said the Buddha, “and not by rites and rituals nor by the absence of any one of these. By none of them at all. The thing to do is give them up, stay calm and independant. You’ll stop longing for any state of mind.”

“If you say that purity doesn’t come from belief, oral transmission, knowledge or rites and rituals,” said Magandiya,

“nor from the absence of these things, I think your teaching’s stupid. There are people who say belief’ll make you pure.”

“Magandiya, because your search has relied on these beliefs you’ve been besotted by the theories you’ve adopted.

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You don’t understand a thing. That’s why you think it’s stupid.

“Think of yourself as better equal or worse than another and you’ll find yourself quarrelling. Rest firm and undoubting. Comparisons disappear.

“Why would someone who’s found freedom argue, saying, “This is true and that’s wrong.” If you don’t make comparisons you won’t argue about them.

“You’re wise, you’ve left your home, wander in solitude not chatting in villages, free of lust, bound by no preferences. You never argue with people.

“You’re wise, you’re free, not stuck in dispute. You promote peace, live without desire,

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grow in the world like a lotus rising unsullied from mud and water.

“You’ve experienced profound insight, have no pride in your beliefs or understanding. You’re just not like that.

“If you can see and hear without clinging, nothing ties you down. If you’re wise, Ignorance can’t bind you but if you get stuck in the senses or beliefs you roam around the world causing trouble.”

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Before the Body’s Dissolution

“Gotama the Buddha, what do you say when you’re asked about a freed being? How does someone who’s at peace see things? How does she live?”

The Buddha said, “Even before the body’s dissolution, if you’re free you’re untroubled about anything that’s past or still to come or happening right now. You have no preferences.

“You’re free of anger, fear and pride, have no remorse, speak wisely with restraint, a truly peaceful person.

“You don’t long for what’s to come or miss what’s gone. You’re not stuck in the world of the senses

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or influenced by mere belief.

“You live modestly and honestly, aren’t covetous or greedy. You live quietly not scorned by others, don’t speak in ways that sour the love that flows between them.

“You’re not dazzled by pleasure or pride, you’re gentle and astute, a person of faith with no strong likes or dislikes.

“You don’t live the way of truth in order to get something and aren’t upset when you don’t. You’re free of desire, have no greed for pleasure.

“You swim oceans of equanimity are always mindful never assess yourself

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as superior equal or inferior. You have no haughtiness at all.

“You’re free, rely on nothing, understand the way things are, desire neither existence nor non-existence.

“You don’t care about the pleasures of the senses, have gone beyond the ties and bonds of clinging.

“You have no children, cattle, land or property. You don’t reach for things or throw them away.

“You don’t choose the ways that ordinary people, recluses or ascetics would condemn: so they make no accusations to disturb you.

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“Free of greed and selfishness, wise one, you don’t describe yourself as superior equal or inferior. You’re free of ideas, free of any views.

“There’s nothing in the world you call your own. You don’t pine for something that’s not there. Everyone knows you’re calm, untroubled by ideas about the truth.

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Quarrels and Disputes

Where do disputes & quarrels come from? And wailing, grief & envy? Rudeness, insults, lies? Why do they happen?

Disputes & quarrels, wailing, grief & envy, pride, conceit, rudeness, insults, lies all happen because we like & want things pleasant. Disputes & quarrels grow out of envy & when we argue we speak spitefully.

Why do some things please us? Why do we feel such greed? Why do we hope & shape our lives to gratify those hopes?

Things please us because we want them. Greed’s part of worldly life. it’s just the same for hope & its fulfillment.

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Why’s greed a part of living in the world? & what’s the origin of thought & anger, telling lies & doubt & all the mental states the Buddha talked of?

Seeing things as pleasant or unpleasant means we prefer one thing & not another. Likewise we see how things arise & pass away, & choose one state.

Anger & doubt, telling lies & other mental states arise when we see things as pleasant or unpleasant. We’re bound by this duality. If you have doubt, train yourself to know this. You’ll understand when you’ve seen what mental states are like.

Why do we feel pleasure or displeasure?

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What has to happen to make them disappear? And why do things arise & pass away?

Pleasant or disagreeable feeling comes with sense impressions (if there’s no sense impression, pleasure & displeasure don’t exist). Arising & passing away are just the same. They come with sense impressions.

So where in the world do sense impressions come from? Why do we cling to things? What do we have to do to be free of selfishness & sense impressions?

Sense impressions depend on mind & body. Grasping is born of desire. When there’s no desire, there’s no selfishness

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& when mind & body disappear sense impressions are gone.

What do we have to do for mind & body to disappear? For happiness & unhappiness to cease? Tell us please, we really want to know.

Mind & body cease to exist when you experience neither true nor false perception; when you’re neither without perception nor perceive something that’s not there. It’s perception that’s the source of every problem.

You’ve explained all the questions that we’ve asked. Now just one more: do all the wise say this purification’s the highest or do they say that there’s some other goal?

Some of the wise contend this purification’s

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the highest, but some good teachers say that there’s a state in which no clinging’s left.

The wise one investigates & sees what some depend on & having understood, is free: doesn’t bother with disputes, doesn’t strive for one state or another.

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The First Discourse on Disputes

When you get stuck in your own beliefs & argue with others, you’re likely to say, “If you agree with me you know the truth & if you don’t, you’re just not realised!”

The debate’s a slanging match.

“You’re stupid!” “Well, you’re wrong!” Everyone says they’re the one who’s right. How can you know who is?

if you don’t agree with someone else, you’re a fool, worthless, an ox. All fools are daft, all of them stuck in their own beliefs.

But if you’re purified by what you’ve come to know, if you’re good & wise & understand, then you’re

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no fool. You’re just living what you know.

Ignore what fools tell one another. Don’t say,

“This is the truth!” It’s only fools who think their way’s the true one & everybody else is just a fool.

How people argue! Some say, “This is the truth, the way things are!” & others say, “That’s wrong!” Why can’t these ascetics learn to agree?

There is indeed one truth & only one. The wise know this but the ascetics proclaim a variety of truths & can’t agree.

Why do the arguing ascetics who’re meant to be so clever promote such a variety of truths? Either truth is various or they’re playing games with reason and ideas.

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There’s just one truth. Any others are conceived by sense impressions & thought. Ascetics reason about their beliefs then say those ideas are either true or false.

You’re full of scorn. You rely on what you see, hear, think, on rites & ritual; you stick to your opinions saying smugly,

“You’re stupid.” You know nothing.

You think others are fools & you’re smart. You say you’re smart reviling all the others.

By your own far fetched beliefs, you’re realised, drunk with pride, swollen with a sense of your own perfection, prostrating to yourself.

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You think you’re so good.

The words with which someone would drag you down bear them down too & if all ascetics say they’re wise & understand the way things are, then there’s no fool amongst them.

Impassioned by their own beliefs, members of different sects call out,

“If you say the truth’s different to what I say, you’re still deluded! You’re not realised!”

Various dogmatics stick to their various ways, insisting, “This is the way & all these other paths lead nowhere!”

Even if you talk with conviction about the way you know, why scorn others & their ways? If you say they’re fools you only stir up trouble.

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You stick to your beliefs, measure others against yourself, argue your views with pride. If you give up these beliefs you cause no pain.

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The Second Discourse on Disputes

Do all those people who cling to their views & assert that they know the truth really bring blame crashing down around their heads? Or do some win praise?

You know, debate brings either praise or blame but such little praise as yields no peace. See this and don’t dispute. Peace grows where there’s no argument.

The wise one doesn’t hold with all the popular ideas. How could they interest her? She relies on nothing she sees or hears.

People who hold codes of good conduct to be the highest path, claim purity’s the fruit of self restraint, adopt some rite & practise it, declaring, “We’ll practise now and soon win purity.” They say they’re experts

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& pass on, experts from one life to the next.

If they slip from this code of good conduct or fail to perform the rites, they tremble still yearning for purity like someone far from home craving its comforts.

Abandon codes of good conduct reject religious rites & judgements of blame or praise. Desire neither purity nor impurity. Live in peace & freedom.

People who practise self restraint, who depend on what is seen, heard or thought, proclaim purity as they wander in worldly confusion craving for yet another life on earth.

Their desire gives birth to more desire. They tremble confused by all the theories.

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If they went beyond birth and death, what could make them tremble? What would there be to yearn for?

Some people say they know the highest truth. Others say,

“No! Your idea of the truth couldn’t be more wrong!” Who is right? Everyone claims to know best.

Some people say their own opinions are perfect & others’ flawed. They bicker and argue each claiming the truth as their own.

If reviling a view of the truth is enough to cast it down, none would stand out from the many. People insist any view different to their own is inferior.

As they honour their own beliefs,

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so they’ll praise their own practices. All their arguments must be valid, their idea of purity shaped to their own standards.

The wise one doesn’t need another’s guidance, doesn’t hold any belief as best. She’s gone beyond dispute. She’s explored the way things are.

Some people believe purity comes from a view of life. They say, “I know. I see the way things are.” But what’s the use of such experience once you’ve gone beyond?

Some one who sees mind and body knows only mind and body. The wise one says, “No matter if he sees much or little. It’s not the way to purity.”

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Dogmatic people are hard to teach. They honour some set opinion, say they’ve seen the truth that purity lives where they say it is & their beliefs are best.

The wise one doesn’t bother with theories, ideas, or popular opinion. She’s not moved by the notions that sway others.

The wise one’s left behind all worldly ties, isn’t bound by sectarian beliefs. She’s at peace whilst others fret and fidget. Theories that sway them, leave her unmoved.

She’s given up her old delusions, creates no new ones, isn’t trapped by her desires or stuck in rigid opinion. She’s free of theories, unsullied by the world, no longer blames herself. She’s wise.

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She’s not bound by what she sees, hears or thinks, has gone beyond the cycles of death & rebirth, neither restrains herself nor desires anything; has set down her burden, is delivered, free. That’s what the Buddha said

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The Fast Way to Freedom

Great sage! Close kinsman of the sun! Teach me about peace and non-attachment. How can a monk see enough to grow calm? Give up grasping hold of worldly things?

The great sage, Buddha, said, “Be wise. Side- step the traps that trick you into believing that ‘you are’. It’s a delusion. Whatever deep desires you may have, practise for their extinction. Be mindful all the time.

Whatever understanding you may gain intuitively or by formal education, don’t be proud. Good people know that’s not the way to peace.

“Don’t think such insight makes you a better person, an equal or a lesser being.

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Don’t let the many things that touch you fool you into thinking ‘I exist.’

“Find peace within. Don’t look for it elsewhere. Someone who’s calm takes nothing, casts nothing aside.

“Be as still as the centre of the ocean. Be calm and free of conceit.”

“Buddha, clear-sighted open-minded one, knower of the truth, you’ve taught the way to end our troubles. Please explain the practices, the precepts and the methods of concentration.”

“Keep your eyes from roaming greedily and your ears from idle chatter. Don’t yearn for your favourite foods. Cling to nothing in the world.

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“Don’t complain about anything that comes your way. Don’t yearn for any other state of mind. Don’t be shaken by some frightening experience.

“If someone gives you food, drinks, sweets or clothes, don’t hoard them. If no one gives you any, never mind.

“Meditate. Don’t be greedy. Don’t worry. Be mindful. Live quietly.

“Don’t sleep too much. Be ardent in your practice, alert. Give up laziness, deceit, laughter, amusements, sex and ornaments!

“Don’t practise sorcery, the interpretation of dreams and omens, or even astrology. Don’t devote yourself to reading the cries of animals,

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enhancing fertility or healing the sick.

“Reproaches don’t ruffle you, praise doesn’t sway you. You turn from greed, envy, anger, lies, insults and swearing.

“You don’t buy or sell. You provoke no blame. You don’t hang around villages hoping for gifts for your preaching.

“Don’t boast. Don’t speak deceitfully or arrogantly. Don’t quarrel.

“Don’t lie or cheat or sneer at others’ ways, their understanding or religious rites.

“If ascetics or other folk annoy you, don’t answer back. Good people don’t retaliate.

“You know the truth. You investigate. Train yourself to be mindful all the time. You know that when desire’s quenched there’s peace. Don’t be careless about the Buddha’s teaching.

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“If you’ve overcome the mentality that made you unhappy, you can’t be cast down. You’ve seen the way things are with your own eyes, not by hearsay. Respect the Buddha’s teaching. Be mindful of it. Always.” That’s what the Buddha said.

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On Violence

The response to violence is fear. I’ll tell you about the dismay I felt when I saw people hurting each other.

They struggled like fish fighting in a drying creek and I was scared.

The world’s not stable, everything’s in flux. I wanted a place to be safe from change but there was nowhere.

In the end I was disgusted by their hostility. That’s when I saw the barb worked deep into the tissue of their hearts.

When the barb pierces someone’s heart she runs first one way then another; when the barb’s drawn out she neither runs confused

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nor falls down weary.

Remember: don’t tie yourself to worldly bonds; go beyond desire. Practise for your own realisation;

tell the truth, be modest and open. Speak kindly to people, don’t yell at them; be wise. Avoid greed and selfishness,

overcome lethargy, weariness and apathy. If you’re intent on freedom, don’t be mindless, don’t be proud,

don’t start lying or grow fond of material things. Recognise your own pride. Live free of violence.

Don’t wallow in delightful memories or present pleasures; don’t wail for what you’ve lost, don’t cling to desire.

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I call greed the great river and desire its current. Desire makes the river run. Our sense pleasures bog us down in mud, make it hard to cross over.

The wise one, noble sage, doesn’t flinch from the truth, stands firm. She’s given up everything, is truly calm.

She’s wise, knows the way things are, is bound by nothing, lives in the world envying no one, coveting nothing.

Someone who’s gone beyond worldly desire and clinging (so difficult to do) doesn’t grieve, doesn’t worry. She’s cut through the current of desire, untied the binding knots.

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Let the past fade, the future disappear, don’t cling to the present. Live in peace.

Someone whose well-being depends neither on her mind nor body doesn’t wail for something that’s not there, can’t be harmed by anything in the world.

An unselfish person doesn’t think: this is mine, that’s hers; doesn’t wail,

“I haven’t got one!”

If you ask me I’d say the advantage of being unshakeable, is feeling merciful, free of greed and perfectly balanced all the time.

A wise person is free of desire. Her actions bring her neither ill nor good, she strives for nothing, is always safe.

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A wise person considers herself neither superior, equal nor inferior. She’s calm, Unselfish, without likes or dislikes. That’s what the Buddha said.

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Sariputta Questions the Buddha

The venerable Sariputta said, “I’ve never seen or heard a teacher who speaks so sweetly. He’s brought his disciples here from the fourth realm of heaven. They know what freedom is.

The wise one has driven out all darkness won perfect happiness. Men, women and gods behold him.

To help all the people trapped in their worldly lives, I’ve come to ask a question of the free and open perfect Buddha.

How many frightening things await a monk who’s given up worldly life? Suppose he’s found a secluded place to live: a mountain cave, a graveyard under a tree, some other remote spot. He shouldn’t be afraid in perfect solitude.

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How many dangers are there in the world for someone who wants to go beyond? A monk living alone must overcome them.

Suppose this monk’s resolute in his practice, how should he speak? Where should he go for food? What rituals should he perform?

What kind of training should he undertake? What qualities of attention mindfulness wisdom should he develop to drive the causes of misery from his mind as a smith drives dross from silver?”

“I’ll tell you, Sariputta,” said the Buddha. “I know what works for someone who’s fed up with worldly life, who lives in solitude practising for enlightenment, following the way things really are.

“A monk who’s wise, mindful and lives moderately,

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need not fear the five dangers: poisonous insects, snakes, violent men, raging animals or people with different beliefs.

“Even after he’s seen the danger of them, he need have no fear. He goes on striving for goodness, overcoming still other obstacles.

“Though he’s sick, hungry, cold or far too hot, he’ll be patient; though he’s homeless he’ll be firm and strong-hearted.

“He doesn’t steal or tell lies. He blesses all beings with loving-kindness, the weak and the strong alike. When he sees agitation in his mind he thinks: this is evil and lets it go.

“He’s not swayed

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by anger or pride, lives free of them, has no likes or dislikes.

“He honours wisdom, delights in what’s good, overcomes difficulties, has no dislikes, lives quietly.

“These four thoughts cause trouble: What shall I eat? Where shall I eat it? Last night was awful! Where shall I sleep tonight? Someone who’s practising and living alone leaves these thoughts behind.

“He receives food and clothes when they’re offered. He knows moderation makes him content, is careful with what he’s received; behaves modestly in the village. Even if people are rude, he replies kindly.

“He keeps his eyes down,

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doesn’t loaf about, practises meditation, is very aware, well balanced, attentive, leaves himself no room to think or do ill.

“He hears his teacher’s guidance or reproofs with joy and mindfulness, feels no hatred for the people who practise with him. Speaks wisely and concisely when he’s asked. Doesn’t gossip

“He practises mindfully to overcome the five causes of worldly misery: desire for things to see, hear, taste, smell or touch.

‘The monk who’s mindful, free, gives up desire for these things, examines the way things are, pays close attention to them, puts an end to ignorance. That’s what the Buddha said.

© Lesley Fowler Lebkowicz and Tamara Ditrich